Half of memory is not usable - Please help me understand where it is

[Mike Connor]

I agree with stormy that this is not OS issue.

Additionally, the heatsink I used is a monster of a heatsink, shouldn't have listened to a friends recommendation on that.

I have always used Intel and smaller Arctic Cooler heatsink fans with 0 problems. Since I don't overclock, I never buy monster heatsinks and tend to stay away from MSI/Gigabyte/Asus motherboards because their BIOS is blotted with OCing features. I have used ECS boards with very good success - granted they have less features in BIOS but what little it does - does well and quite stable of a motherboard in my opinion. You don't really need that monster heatsink unless you plan to OC (mainly for games).

Just for fun, have you tried loosening off the heatsink yet?

Try that.

And try running the RAM on single channel mode? Another thing that beats me is according to OP, MemTest86+ is able to see and test all 4 GB of RAM. :huh: My suspicion goes towards your CPU (being improperly seated or damaged or whatever) and then to your motherboard.

Some of those things are definitely possible, but it is more likely to be incorrect RAM. We got about two cases a week regarding this problem, and all due to technicians using RAM they thought would work, but didn't. Windows can see it, the board can obviously see it, various tests will show it and test it, but Windows can't use it.

Of course, there are major problems trying to troubleshoot such problems per posts. It could be a number of things, some of which could be quite easily eliminated, but there is no way of knowing what exactly the person concerned is actually doing. Also, not everybody has a collection of suitable RAM lying around.

Will be interesting to hear how the problem is eventually cured. Hopefully the OP will let us know.

Regards....Mike Connor

 

[Audasiti]

Most likely this isn't it, But sometimes if you have a integrated chipset (Graphics) on your mobo, It will allocate a certain amount for that chip, Just saying its a possibility... Hope i helped If that is it just remover the driver for the graphics, even if all of it isnt there it will free like 100mb if not used..

 

[gpost3]

Most likely this isn't it, But sometimes if you have a integrated chipset (Graphics) on your mobo, It will allocate a certain amount for that chip, Just saying its a possibility... Hope i helped

No you didn't help. Simply if you take the courtesy to look at OP's computer specs, the motherboard listed has no integrated graphic chip.

 

[pendraggon87]

Quick update - I replaced my heatsink with the default Intel one, bought new RAM (I now have 6x 2GB sticks (the mobo can only take 4 sticks, but this was for testing)). I rebooted, and I still got only 2GB useable, 2GB reserved. Attached please find the memory dump - again, I am very bad at reading hex and do not understand what I am seeing, though it looks like the graphics card may be hogging a large amount. The screenshots are from when I have 4GB installed, and when i Have 8GB installed. Always, exactly half my RAM is not usable.

 

[gpost3]

To OP, it isn't worth waisting your money on RAM and heatsink. We have already determined those are not the cause of this issue. I would suggest you return the extra RAM you bought right away and also stop waisting money on heatsinks.

It seems like your video card, and we determined that by looking at your I/O maps. Test with a different card (preferably an nvidia one). If that doesn't resolve your problem, then your motherboard may be faulty. Try that and let us know.

Tomorrow I might have some time, so I will do the math for you for once more.

 

[pendraggon87]

To OP, it isn't worth waisting your money on RAM and heatsink. We have already determined those are not the cause of this issue. I would suggest you return the extra RAM you bought right away and also stop waisting money on heatsinks.

It seems like your video card, and we determined that by looking at your I/O maps. Test with a different card (preferably an nvidia one). If that doesn't resolve your problem, then your motherboard may be faulty. Try that and let us know.

Tomorrow I might have some time, so I will do the math for you for once more.

The heatsink was a spare - I did not spend money on it. I will try to see if I can get ahold of anothr graphics card to test. Do you think it worthwhile to RMA the cpu as well? I read cases where people were talking about bent pins being the cause - is that a motherboard or CPU issue.

 

[gpost3]

any updates to this? Did you try new video card?

Do you think it worthwhile to RMA the cpu as well?

It is only worth while once we know for sure what the source of the problem is.

 

[sandmanpl]

Hi
I have the same problem
windows takes 50% of ram
My computer is dell t7400 with dual xeon cpu and dual quadro 5600 in SLI
It used to work under vista 64 and used all 16 gigs
and under 7 pro it used 16.

but for some time now i have noticed that it shows usable 8 of installed 16

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/6738215/screen1.png

 

[pirate1591]

memory use in windows 7

Hey there to all,

OK, so I am new to this form but here is my two cents, I have the same memory, (RIPJAW) and am running windows 7 home premium. I was running 16Gb and all was well, I went to 32Gb and then it said that there were 32 Gb installed but that only 16Gb were usable, what I was able to get from Microsoft is that windows 7 home premium will only "use" 16Gb if you put in more it will recognize it but will only use 16Gb. Microsoft also said the Windows 7 Pro will use up to whatever you put in it, so I gave 16Gb to my son and kept 16Gb for me, I do photo imaging and rendering, he is a gamer and 16 is plenty for us both. If it not using quite all then that's usually coming from having "on board" graphics and the system "steals" some for "virtual memory" to be used for graphics.

Hope that helps matey.